148 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



Transvaal is dotted here and there with solitary outcrops 

 of granite, which rise, in tumbled masses, often con- 

 siderable heights above the surrounding country. The 

 larger among these are generally each the special refuge 

 of some particular troop, which may total anything from 

 fifty to a hundred in number. 



Like apes and monkeys, baboons are diurnal in habit, 

 and at early dawn issue from their fastnesses in search 

 of food. About sunset they return, each troop to its 

 special sanctuary, to spend the night huddled up for 

 warmth and protection among the boulders, or in fissures 

 of the rock. During their daily rambles the most 

 methodical and ordered combination is displayed. The 

 troop spreads out in a sort of open order and moves 

 across country, each individual at a sedate walk, his 

 tail, except the latter third, which laps over, held erect. 

 Every inch of ground is deliberately scanned, every 

 likely stone and tuft of grass turned over or displaced 

 in the search for scorpions, centipedes, beetles, ants, 

 birds' or other eggs, bees' nests, ground nuts, bulbs, and 

 all the other items of the baboon's extensive diet. Wild 

 fruit trees are stripped clean of their burdens, and woe 

 betide the unguarded fields of ripe mealies, millet, or 

 ground nuts which happen to lie in the path. 



When employed in a raid on cultivated lands, baboons 

 seem perfectly aware that they are behaving improperly, 

 and that detection means danger. Therefore, upon such 

 occasions, it is their custom to post one or more look- 

 outs, either in high trees or on the top of some com- 

 manding rock, in order that they may receive due notice 

 of approaching interference. When actually disturbed, 

 though discretion prompts swift and instant flight, their 

 fear is seldom great enough to cause them to give up 

 their spoil, and I have seen a troop retreat at full speed, 



